Between the Petals by Jae Won Lee
March 25, 2024
As snow falls, there is an overwhelming quietness, a sense of simplicity, and a feeling of solitude. Between the Petals by Jae Won Lee has an intimate calming of a moment between the viewer and the artwork. Jae Won Lee summarizes the work herself as a “visual condensation of winter months in Michigan”, or more broadly, as “earth viewed horizontally in the Midwest to nourish contemplative insights”. The intimate ivory petals stretch across the wire as snow stretches across the horizon. There’s a pacifying sense that emulates the same look and feel of a hammock, a blanket of ivory across a relaxed orbit.
Jae Won Lee is renowned as an intimately-scaled artist often creating multi-media works that are distinctively unique from one another. She often works with the idea of winter to ponder ideas of solitude and silence. While Won Lee is known for her works with porcelain, she has been more recently exploring her theme with works made of paper, as well as other mixed-media practices.
Jae Won Lee earned her BFA in sculpture from California State University and an MFA in ceramics from New York State College of Ceramics from Alfred University. She has participated in various artist-in-residence programs such as Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and the Clayarch Gimhae Museum in Gimhae, Korea. She has taught at various universities across the country and currently is a professor at Michigan State University. Between the Petals is currently on display in Wayne State University’s STEM Innovation Learning Center.
Written by Colleen Sikorski
https://www.jaewonlee.net/about